Hirai: We don't do the consumer a disservice by ditching old consoles

Kaz Harai has taken a side-swipe at Nintendo and Microsoft by saying they've done the consumer a disservice by getting rid of both GameCube and Xbox as soon as they released their next consoles.

When asked who was winning the console wars by Eurogamer Hirai said: "I think that 'winning' and 'won' are two different things. Where I stand, we look at it in the context of a ten-year life cycle as we've done with PSone and PS2, which is certainly on its way.

"So it's really a matter of looking back after ten years minimum and asking what you've actually accomplished in terms of the installed base," he went on.

"If somebody wants to say that they're going to have a larger installed base, we should compare notes after ten years, because otherwise we're not talking about the same thing.

"And we certainly don't do the consumer the disservice of basically saying that the consoles have gone by the wayside because we have a new one. Right now, a prime example? PS2 is nine years into it. Where's the Xbox? Where's the GameCube?"

Full interview - with both Hirai and Mattrick answering the same set of questions about where they see their respective business heading - through the link.

By Mike Bowden